Doesn't Sound Like War
by Con Moto
Summary: On the very first night at Hogwarts, Severus Snape discovers a secret piano. He spends the night composing a piece for his best friend, Lily Evans. Little do they know that the song contains a special type of magic...


Harry was jolted awake by a most peculiar feeling. He didn't know what it was yet at the same time he did; it was just lurking in the back of his mind. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. Now that he thought of it, why should he be feeling like this after just a moment ago he was suffering a horrible nightmare involving the trauma and misery that succeeded the Final Battle?

Of course, the whole wizarding world had never felt more at ease since the evil and sadistic tyrant had finally been vanquished, but the shadows of war still lingered.

Almost seven years had passed since that fateful day, but Harry's sleep was continually plagued by the faces of the departed. So what was it that awakened Harry feeling an emotion that was no way in accordance to the nightmare he just had?

Harry sighed and looked over to the sleeping form of his pregnant wife Ginny, who was lying on the bed beside him. A smile graced his lips as he thought of becoming a father for the first time in a matter of mere months.

He gazed at Ginny, watching her body rise and fall with her slow, even breathing, the slight smile that played about her lips, the way her flaming red hair fanned about her head on her pillow, reminding Harry inexplicably of a young girl he once saw in a memory. Lily Evans. Lily, Harry's mother. Lily, the one who Severus Snape was so deeply in love with. Lily, Lily, Lily…

But just as Harry thought of this, the odd feeling that awakened him from slumber returned with full force. Not ready for it, Harry gasped in surprise. With every passing second, he felt the mysterious emotion growing larger and larger. It was as though something was swelling inside his chest, taking over his very heart.

Just as swiftly as the emotion came, Harry felt like it was clawing its way out of his body, only to be replaced with something else. It was a feeling of desperation, longing, sadness, but most of all, gut-wrenching heartache.

The odd thing was that these emotions, emotions that were usually associated with something awful, didn't make Harry feel miserable in the slightest.

There was something in these emotions that made Harry feel… safe.

Abruptly, Harry got out of bed. So the feeling that had woken him was one of safety? As soon as Harry realised this, the desperation, longing, sadness and heartache left him.

Suddenly, he understood what all this confusion meant, although he could never explain how. He also had a hunch that his old Potions Master had a part to play in it. With one last loving look at Ginny, Harry quickly pulled on a shirt and a pair of trousers and without knowing precisely where he might end up, Disapparated.

***  
_"Sev! Sev, slow down! I can't keep up!" Lily shouted, running a fair few feet behind her best friend. But the boy merely looked back, an infuriating smirk on his face. He turned back around and kept running._

_"What in the name of Merlin's pants has got him so excited?" Lily muttered to herself. She saw him run up a flight of stairs and disappear through a door that led to room that Lily didn't know existed._

_Perplexed, Lily followed and panting, arrived in the room a little while after Severus._

_"You took your time."_

_She saw Severus leaning against a wall, looking as though running through Hogwarts like a madman not a moment ago was the last thing he did._

_Lily scowled before replying. "Never make me run like that ever again, Severus Snape!"_

_He laughed._

***  
Harry wobbled a little as his feet found solid ground. He never fully got the hang of Apparating. _Oh well, I'm bound to get it one day_, he thought as he took in his surroundings.

He was in a fairly large chamber, with immense pillars supporting the ceiling. There was something about the room that made him think of Hogwarts. No, Harry thought. He couldn't be there. After all, the number of times Hermione had told him about not being able to Apparate within the grounds of Hogwarts was impressive. So where was he?

Harry felt slightly apprehensive about leaving his home so rashly, but he knew there was special magic roaming free tonight.

A few glances around the chamber were enough to see it. A beautiful grand piano, standing off to one side of the chamber. The sight of it made Harry's breath catch in his throat. _But I've never been particularly musical. What's going on?_

Harry's feet led him to the piano. He briefly wondered why he wasn't being a little more cautious, but he already had the answer to that. _There is special magic about tonight. There is a mystery that needs unravelling and I need to know what Professor Snape has to do with it._

Harry stopped in front of the ebony instrument, reached out and played a note.

***  
_"But seriously," Severus said, after sobering up under Lily's glare. "I have something to show you." The excitement was evident on his face. Lily had to suppress a grin; she hadn't seen him like this in a while._

_"Oh really," Lily answered back. "And what would that be?"_

_Severus took her hand and led her over to a shadowed corner of the chamber they were in. The friends stopped next to a beautiful grand piano._

_He watched as Lily's mouth fell open and uttered a soft "Oh my."_

_Lily turned to face Severus. "You play?" she asked, amazed at this revelation. Severus nodded._

_"Remember the morning after the very first night at Hogwarts, you noticed that I had hardly slept?"_

_Lily nodded in assent. "Yeah, you told me that Mulciber kept you up all night with his snoring. But what's that got to do with you being able to play the piano?"_

_Severus grinned at her before replying. "Don't you see? I lied. I don't know what made me do it, but I snuck out of my dormitory that night. It was strange. I didn't know where I was going, but my legs were moving on their own accord. I arrived here, in this chamber."_

_Lily simply looked at him, wondering what had happened to her friend._

_Severus continued. "I remember feeling this emotion. Like whatever happened to me that night, I would be safe. So when I got to this chamber and saw the piano, I knew what to do. I started playing. It came naturally to me and it was the best feeling in the world."_

_Severus swallowed and wondered whether to go on. After a brief pause, he did. "Something told me that I had to pass on that feeling of safety. So I wrote a composition that would make one feel that way." He had written the piece all in one night, the first one at Hogwarts. Four years he finally plucked up the courage to play it to his best friend._

_He took a deep breath and looked Lily in her stunning green eyes. "I wrote it for you, Lily."_

***  
The note eerily echoed thorough the chamber, sending faint chills down Harry's spine. But the noise didn't fade like it should have done. Instead the echo morphed into a tune, a beautiful tune that reminded one of desperation, longing, sadness and above all else, gut-wrenching heartache.

But it gave the illusion of safety.  
Needless to say, Harry was stunned by this magic. So it was this song that had evoked those emotions in him and ultimately, woken him up. But the question was, how?

Strange, Harry thought as he listened to the song. He didn't think he had heard it before yet it sounded familiar. Did he hear it as a young child perhaps? Harry supposed that was the case, as he couldn't come to any other conclusion.

The song was so beautiful, yet so sad. It was almost intoxicatingly so. Harry almost yearned for the song to absorb him into it.

But Harry was puzzled. Why this song? Why had this song surfaced such emotions in him? Why was it, that when he was at home, he inexplicably thought of his mother and Severus Snape?

He knew they had something to do with this mystery. Harry paced the room. Why them?

Harry pondered the situation.

While Harry paced up and down the dark chamber, a new idea formed in his mind. _Snape loved my mother. This song, it isn't a melody of Snape's making, is it? _Was it a song for Lily?

Of course! That had to be it. Harry had seen the man's memories and knew the extent of his love for Lily. So why wouldn't he compose a song for her?

Harry never realised his former Professor had a flair for music, but there was much he didn't know about the enigma of the man who was named Severus Snape.

The music ended, leaving an empty sensation in the pit of Harry's stomach, yet there was a vague contentment. He still felt safe.

The song may have ended, but something intangible replaced it. The faint sound of breath escaping the mouth; a whisper, Harry noted.

_"Recollect, remember, call it to mind, Harry."_

He looked around wildly for the source of the noise, but there was only the piano.

He pulled out his wand and called out to the darkness. "Who's there?"

_"Harry, think. I know the memory is there."_ That time there was a dim familiarity about the tone in which the whisper spoke. A deep, smooth, low, whisper.

"Professor Snape?" Harry said uncertainly, keeping his lighted wand poised.

Snape continued. _"You will remember the song." _And with those final words, the man's voice faded away into nothingness, just like his beautiful melody.

Harry couldn't even think of an appropriate word to describe what he was feeling. Out of all the other-worldly experiences he had ever had, this one was probably bloody well near the top of the list.

He sank to the floor, the heels of his hands pressed against his forehead, mulling over what this…spirit… of Snape told him.

_"You will remember the song."_

Snape's departing words rang in Harry's mind. When the melody played earlier, he had indistinctly recognised it. _I know the song, but I haven't the foggiest where I've heard it before._

Harry sighed and stood up. Perhaps he wasn't going to solve this mystery tonight. He supposed it would be prudent to return home now that he was, to put it bluntly, stumped.

Still feeling vaguely safe (damn, that feeling was getting annoying now!), Harry turned on the spot and the vortex of darkness engulfed him once more.

***  
With a pop, Harry arrived back home in Ginny's and his bedroom. His wife was still fast asleep.

Changing back into his nightclothes, the last words Snape said preyed on his mind.

_"You will remember the song."_

Again Harry heaved a great sigh and flopped into bed. He hadn't noticed how weary he was. Within moments, slumber had taken over.

***  
_A black haired baby was crying heart-rendingly in his cot, barely noticing the man on the floor clutching the dead body of the boy's mother._

_Tears dripped down the man's long nose, he too seemingly oblivious to everything around him, from the destroyed nursery to the little boy which it belonged to._

_"No, no, no, this can't have happened!" Severus sobbed, holding his beloved in his arms. "It didn't work, the song…" The devastated man trailed off, for he had only just noticed the screaming child._

_Knowing what he must do, he reluctantly released Lily and walked to the cot. There was a nasty cut on the boy's forehead. Tears still running down his face, Severus picked up the boy who Lily had once mentioned was named Harry._

_Positioning Harry on one arm, Severus pulled out his wand and gently cleaned the cut but try as he might, couldn't completely heal it._

_"Hush, child. Shhh." Severus tried to soothe Harry but to no avail. After all, why should he be able to when he was feeling exactly like the child? Harry cried louder still._

_Severus hated to see the child of the only woman he ever loved like this. He was at a loss as to how to calm Harry until he looked into the boy's eyes. They were Lily's. Severus had heard from others how Lily and James' child looked precisely like his father but his eyes were all Lily's. Severus didn't truly believe that. How could Potter's brat have Lily's warm, kind, green eyes that always sparkled like emeralds?_

_But Severus was wrong. Harry's eyes were Lily's._

_It made it all the more easier to open his mouth and sing to Harry, as a last attempt to soothe him._

_He softly hummed the song he wrote for Lily._

_Harry's cries slowly subsided and at last the child fell silent. He was now gazing intently up at Severus, who had finished his song and was now staring at the unresponsive form of Lily, unshed tears glistening in his eyes._

_"I wrote that song for your Mama, Harry." Severus said, half speaking to Harry and half to himself. He focused his eyes on the child. "I told her it would keep her safe." At this, the tears spilled from his eyes. He let out a shuddering sob, but willed himself to continue._

_"That song brought up many sad emotions. Both I and your Mama felt them. But even when we felt these sad emotions, we felt safe. We didn't know why this happened. But…I think I do now."_

_Severus silently pleaded, desperately hoping that what he was about to say was true. Yet somehow, he knew it was._

I felt safe that night, all those years ago when I first discovered the piano. Something told me to pass on that safety. So I passed it to Lily. Severus' eyes flickered back over to her body, his heart breaking a little more. It didn't work. But I'll be damned if the magic of the music isn't passed on to her son.

_Severus spoke to Harry again, who was still watching Severus closely. "We are in a time of war and those emotions your Mama and I felt are ones that come with it. But in the end Harry, you will always be safe. Always."_

***  
Harry awoke the next morning more well-rested than he'd been in years.


End file.
